Salt and chocolate. I thinkwe’veestablished that I’m a fan, so it should come as no surprise that when I heard about Salazon Chocolate Co., a self-described “salted-chocolate based brand”, I immediately contacted the founder to ask where I might be able to locate his chocolate.

Thanks to this blog, I was offered samples of each chocolate flavour to review. In the interests of transparency, I was under no obligation to review these in a positive light. The following constitutes my honest opinion of these products.

The current label.

Salazon Chocolate Co. produces three different types of chocolate, and is currently asking for customers to submit travel photos to be used as labels. In the meantime, the labels depict a salt farm in Southeast Asia, with a similar picture used as the mold for the chocolate itself.

Salazon Chocolate Co. Organic Dark Chocolate with Natural Sea Salt

A little broken in transit, but this just made the chocolate like a fun jigsaw puzzle. (Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?)

Salazon Chocolate’s original bar is comprised of dark chocolate with sea salt crystals sprinkled liberally on its underside. This results in little bursts of salt in every bite that both heighten and provide a counterpoint to the sweetness of the chocolate. The aroma is slightly woodsy but also reminds me of salted butter caramels, which is only ever a good thing.

The chocolate itself is very sweet, but this works well with the assertiveness of the salt. The combination creates caramel and brown sugar notes, and ensures the bar is quite difficult to stop nibbling on.

As a concession to the world’s milk chocolate-lovers, Salazon produces a slightly sweeter version of its original bar by adding turbinado sugar to the formula.

I did find this bar noticeably sweeter than the first, as the turbinado sugar provides a honey-like sweetness that overlays the salt. This flavour should work as a lovely option not only for fans of sweeter chocolate, but for vegans and the lactose-intolerant who may struggle to find such chocolates without dairy as an ingredient. The turbinado sugar flavour was, however, my least favourite of the three, simply because I preferred the way the original bar was more strongly tempered with salt.

If I can now get salt and pepper with my chocolate, does this make it a justifiable meal?

I was very keen to try the third of Salazon’s chocolate flavours, as this one replaces the turbinado sugar of the previous bar with cracked black pepper. As someone who can never have too much pepper in her meals, I felt this would be right up my alley.

The chocolate is again pleasantly rich, sweet and, as is the case with every Salazon bar, incredibly smooth and silky in texture. The salt is again prevalent on tasting, but the pepper is actually very subtle. After extensive tasting and pondering, I’ve decided that the subtlety of this bar makes it a worthy contender for introducing one’s friends and family into the world of more “exotic” chocolate flavours.

A part of me would have loved a slightly stronger pepper heat in this chocolate, but there were definitely moments when the pepper shone through enough to create an extra layer of flavour. The rest of the time, I simply found myself enjoying the silky texture and salty-sweet base of Salazon’s chocolate.

Interesting. I’d love to try these. I’m really interested in that kinda taste-trickery — using other elements to give the impression of something different, as in the turbinado sugar creating a more conventional milk chocolate taste. I remember noticing that when I was in England and had a dark chocolate bar with vanilla (as in, real little itty bitty grainy bits of vanilla, not just *~*~*~vanilla flavouring*~*~*), and I was amazed at how it changed the flavour profile into something much softer, much more comparable to milk chocolate.

In other news, I still haven’t eaten ANY of my chocolate! Either from Schoc (btw they’ve got Valentine’s Day strawberry and rose bars out at the moment, which I think I’ll have to get my hands on) or the ones from you. I’ve eaten so many meals out the last few days..I actually don’t think I’ve eaten a single thing at home. It’s driving me nuts! I want to sit in my PJs in my bed and eat my yummy goodies and not have to dine in public/at people’s houses where I have to use table manners and be respectable!! hahaha do you think Other-Hannah, Lauren & co. would be pissed off if I cancelled our plans for dinner tonight on the grounds that I want to eat chocolate? :p

L-Izzle: Askinosie actually makes a bar with large pieces of vanilla bean and sugar crystals that I’d love to try, but I’ve never come across it. I just had the rest of the turbinado Salazon bar (even I couldn’t finish three 85g bars in one go yesterday) and was surprised again at how strong the caramel flavour was.

Table manners are ridiculous. And if you do end up having dinner with Hannah (& co.), please inform her that there will certainly be nights in England where all I want to do is stay in my hotel room eating chocolate and writing reviews for my blog 🙂

bahahah WILL DO! 🙂 and yes, i am having dinner with them. i decided i’d make the sacrifice and let them have the pleasure of my company :p i will, however, opt to go home for dessert, because i know what’s awaiting me will be infinitely better than anything the cafes of civic are likely to offer 😀 😀

ps. yummm… let’s make it our mission to find that bar. whoever finds it first MUST save some for the other, or hair-pulling and pinching will occur.

pps. my mum is currently enjoying the pb on strawberries with yoghurt – big thumbs up from her! can’t wait to try it on ice cream.

Kristy: Oh, you will absolutely have to make a salt-and-chocolate pilgrimage to the US soon! The combination is everywhere these days, and there are many such treats that are both vegan and gluten-free, so you’d be safe!

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About

Hannah. Writer, editor, firm believer in socks, gin, laughter, buttered toast, cheesecake, and semicolons. Currently back in Canberra after two years living in Canada; heart tingling to see what happens next.